


Sea Change

by nausicaa82



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Breakfast, Culture Shock, M/M, Shopping, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-23 15:58:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11993085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nausicaa82/pseuds/nausicaa82
Summary: Steve Rogers had always had the ability to roll with the quick punches. He had seen and even been an example of what glorious transformation can happen in just a few moments. So of course over seventy years, a lot of transformations would have happened. Waking up to a world with different transportation, communication, and even a entirely new world political structure was odd, but not beyond what he could handle.  It's the small things that no one else even realizes are so different that get to him.These are the five small changes that really bothered Steve, and then the one that he rather liked.





	1. The Flag

Steve was debating on if he could believe what they had been saying or not while he went through his morning calisthenics. Perhaps they had drugged him. They were in Times Square after all, or at least, it was a close approximation when he ran out into the street. All the lights, the colors, and the sounds were like a fever dream he had once when he was laid up with pneumonia. But no matter what stories he had heard about how rough Times Square was, he had never heard of anyone trying to convince someone they had slept for seventy years. Where was the make in that? Besides, his body felt fine, and the more they told him, the more it made sense.

For the past two days, five agents had come to talk with him, but in actuality it was more like they were there to lecture at him about what had happened while he had been "asleep." One would talk on American political history, one on American social history, one of world affairs, one on new technology, and one on this "S.H.I.E.L.D." that had recovered him from the Arctic. All had the same answers for the questions he asked them. He tried to trip them up and ask impossible to know things, but they would look it up on the rectangle devices they carried with them with only a slight difficulty. If it was a sham, they were all tops at keeping their stories straight.

There was a chime and a knock at the door before it opened, then soft and sure footsteps were getting closer. He cut his last set of push ups short and stood without any trouble.

"Good morning, Captain Rogers," Agent Hill greeted as she entered the quarters they had set him up in. She was carrying a stack of books, files, and a small shining black rectangle he recognized from a previous session with her. As usual, her face was almost impossible to read.

"What's on the schedule for today, ma'am?" he asked as she looked at his untouched breakfast. He immediately noticed the slight smile that broke her usual reserve.

"Captain, you are just as good as all the reports and books claimed you were. Even as good as Coulson swore you would be, and I'll tell you, that's a pretty tall order to live up to." She picked up a piece of the now-cold bacon and bit into it while staring straight into Steve's eyes. He swallowed and tried to will his stomach not to rumble. Hill stepped closer to him and offered the strip.

"But, we aren't your enemy, and we aren't tampering with the food or anything else for that matter. I know you haven't eaten in three days."

"I don't mean to waste it; I'm just not hungry," he lied.

"What will it take for you to trust us, Rogers? I'll eat half of all your meals if that's what you want."

"I _want_ to believe you. Well, not really, but in a way. I want to believe that that we won the war and you aren't Hydra, but, damn it all, the stars are wrong!"

Hill's face scrunched and she lowered her arm."The stars?"

"On the flags! The ones in the hallway and in the rooms." He gestured towards the door. "Didja think I wouldn't notice? I've seen the flag my entire life, painted it on hundreds of WPA posters. Any American would know there are forty-eight stars, six rows of eight, all in straight columns. Your flag has them all catawampus!"

"Oh, Captain," she sighed now understanding, "they added more stars when Alaska and Hawaii became states."

"There are fifty states now?"

"Agent May hasn't gotten that far yet?" She moved her hand over the device and a picture of a newspaper from August of 1959 came up with the headline.

"We last talked about the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956," Steve answered without taking his eyes off the screen.

"Pretty close." She shrugged her shoulders and offered the bacon to him again. With his own sigh, he took a bite and swallowed.

"I can't even recognize the Stars and Stripes anymore, but this," he waved the last bit still in his hand, "this I can recognize is pretty good." He smiled but his eyes did not follow suit, and his blinked back the tears that threatened to fall.

"It's even better warm," she assured and sat down at his table. She purposely stirred the bowl of oatmeal, and ate a spoonful. "But I've always liked my oatmeal cold." Steve nodded as he sat next to her, finished the bacon in his hand, and started on the rest of his meal. Hill opened a file and pointed at a map with different countries highlighted.

"This morning, Captain, we'll begin with the formation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries."


	2. A Suit

Things were better when Steve had things to do that went beyond just getting caught up. In a way, after the Battle of New York, everyone was living in a new world. Steve was still an odd-man out, but at least so was everybody else. The only exception was the Black Widow, but Agent Romanov was always the exception. 

"Those pants are killing me, Rogers. Pleated, high-waist khakis are more offensive than YouTube comments," she casually began as they were walking out of a meeting at Headquarters. 

"Hey! That's a bit much for someone who--" he stopped in his tracks when she turned and stared him down. "who- who..."

"What was that Wise Old Owl?" she smirked and softly pushed at his shoulder like Bucky would do whenever he was teasing Steve. It was amazing how when she wanted to, she could put people at ease with the smallest of gestures. He stood a little taller and smiled back. 

"...who has never shopped for someone my size," he finished. She scoffed. 

"That sounds like a challenge to me. Let's go."

"Wait, Natasha. I didn't mean--"

"I've been wanting to do this since meeting you on the Helicarrier." 

"I don't think--"

"Come on, Steve." Shrugging her shoulder like this was something they did all the time, she held his wrist and pulled him towards the elevator. "It'll be fun."

To her credit, she actually did make it fun for Steve as they went from store to store at one of the nicer outdoor malls. They had found some good jeans and shirts for him that helped soften the whole time-traveler look he couldn't quite escape on his own. With a collection of bags in his hands, he dutifully followed her down another alley decorated with stringed lights and hanging beach balls. 

"We should get you a haircut and new suit, too. You know--" She pointed at a shop near the end of path with an Italian name. "--to wear on a nice date."

"Yeah, cause I gotta lot of those lined up," he said sarcastically and slowed his pace. 

"All you would have to do is ask him. He'd say 'yes.'" Steve gave her the side-eye but continued following her into the suit shop. 

"I don't know whom you could be talking about."

"You're a terrible liar, Steve. I'm good at these kinds of things- a natural matchmaker, and I know for a fact that he is interested in you like that."

"He's said something?"

"Well, not in so many words, but I think a smart-cut suit with this--" She held up a cyan silk tie from a sparse display. "--would make it harder for him to keep quiet." Steve couldn't help the heat rising on his cheeks. 

After the suit Natasha thought was best on him was pined and chalked for fitting, Steve magically got a seat at busy salon nearby through Natasha calling in a favor. He had trusted his life to her on a few missions already, so he only had a few reservations as she talked in Italian with the stylist negotiating the cut. By the time it was all said and done, half of his hair was on the floor, and Steve was starting to think that maybe things could work out, even in asking _him_ out.

When three weeks later he was called that his suit was ready, he decided he would take Natasha along. But first as a thank you, he paid for lunch at the Afro-Portuguese place nearby the shop that she had been so excited about seeing their first time there. The lunch was so delicious that Steve couldn’t help but indulge before walking to the shop a little slower than usual. The store was empty for an early afternoon, and Natasha made small talk with the tailor while Steve tried on his newly tailored suit. 

“Oh,” Natasha sighed and clapped her hands when he emerged from the dressing room. “It’s absolutely perfect, even after eating half a flock of peri-peri chickens!” Steve self-consciously rubbed at his stomach while looking in the mirrors. 

“I have no idea where it all goes,” Steve said as he turned and twisted to try to see how it looked from behind. “I like it, Cristobal, but I’d like to try the other pair, too.” The tailor and Natasha quirked their heads to the side. 

“Sir, you only ordered one.” 

“Yeah, one suit: a jacket and two pairs of pants. Everyone knows they wear faster than the jacket, and with the ration ov- over…” Steve’s words died in his mouth as Natasha’s confusion softened into the sad-pity he hadn’t received since his makeover. 

“Sir, I am sorry. I did not realize you had wanted to buy two pairs of pants. I’ll stay all night and rush order a second pair.” 

Steve smiled as if he were selling war bonds and shook his head. “Now, I couldn’t let you do that. You did absolutely nothing wrong; it’s on me. I’m—I’m not from here, and I’m pleased as punch about this suit. Thank you.” 

Natasha didn’t bring up his mistake as they went for some cereal-milk ice cream, nor did she give him that pitying look for the rest of the day. Instead she gave him advice on dating and movies and avoiding email scams. Steve still had no idea how to talk with women, but Natasha was always the exception.


End file.
